FC Groningen

Football club infobox
clubname = FC Groningen


fullname = Football Club Groningen
nickname = "Pride of the North"
"Green-White Army"
founded = June 16, 1971
ground = Euroborg
Groningen
capacity = 22,329
chairman = flagicon|Netherlands Ed Zijp
manager = flagicon|Netherlands Ron Jans
league = Eredivisie
season = 2007/2008
position = Eredivisie, 7th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_greenstripes|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FFFFFF|body1=FFFFFF|rightarm1=FFFFFF|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=_greenstripes|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=5B0CB3|body2=5B0CB3|rightarm2=5B0CB3|shorts2=5B0CB3|socks2=5B0CB3|

FC Groningen is a football club from Groningen in the Netherlands.

The club was founded in June 16, 1971 by the Groningen Football and Athletics Association (GVAV, founded January 26, 1921). They enjoyed top flight football for most of their existence, although the club was relegated to the second division after the third season.

The club was then propelled back into success by the Koeman brothers, Ronald Koeman and his elder brother Erwin Koeman together with defending midfielder Jan van Dijk resulting in qualification to European football for the first time in the 1982/83 season. Their best season in the Eredivisie was during the 1990/91 season when they finished third.

FC Groningen's home colors are green and white. The club plays its home games in the 22,000 seat Euroborg stadium. In December 2005, the club played its last match ever in the 12,500 seat Oosterpark Stadion after having played there for 72 years. The average attendance in 2004/05 was 12,500 people. This has risen to just below 20,000 people in the new stadium. After the summer of 2008 Euroborg will have a capacity of 22,000 as a result of a 2200 seat expansion.

2005-06 season

The 2005/06 season turned out to be one of the best in a long time for FC Groningen, with the club finishing 5th place in the league. This allowed Groningen to enter the play-off tournament for the UEFA Champions League third round qualification. However, they were beaten by Ajax in the finals who scored a goal two minutes before the final whistle.

By finishing fifth in the league, FC Groningen qualified for European football for the first time in 14 years, where they were defeated 4-3 on aggregate in the first round by Partizan Belgrade.

2006-07 season

In the 2006/07 season FC Groningen again managed to get an entrance for the UEFA Cup. They ended the season on an 8th place but thanks to the play-off tournament system, in which they beat Feyenoord and FC Utrecht, they qualified for the UEFA Cup where they faced ACF Fiorentina in the first round. Both matches in Groningen and Florence ended in a draw, 1-1. FC Groningen were defeated after penalties and knocked out in the first round.

Current squad

Player transfers

* Arnold Kruiswijk to flagicon|BELRSC Anderlecht
* Mark-Jan Fledderus to flagicon|NED Heracles Almelo
* Marnix Kolder to flagicon|NED VVV-Venlo
* Martijn van der Laan to flagicon|NED BV Veendam
* Sander Rozema to flagicon|NED BV Veendam
* Stefan Nijland to flagicon|NED PSV Eindhoven

Out on loan

Reserve squad

Fs player|no=|nat=Netherlands|name=Robert Pomstra|pos=MF Fs player|no=|nat=Netherlands|name=Enrico Pellegriti|pos=MF Fs player|no=|nat=Netherlands|name=Jasmin Ramic|pos=FW

Notable players

;flagicon|NED Netherlands
* Raymond Atteveld
* Ron van den Berg
* Foeke Booy
* Eddy Bosman
* Joost Broerse
* Bud Brocken
* Theo ten Caat
* Jan van Dijk
* Martin Drent
* Mart van Duren
* René Eijkelkamp
* Piet Fransen
* Joop Gall
* Sander van Gessel
* Dean Gorré
* Ab Gritter
* Ronald Hamming
* Karel Hiddink
* Peter Hoekstra
* Peter Houtman
* Hugo Hovenkamp
* Pieter Huistra
* Harris Huizingh
* Ron Jans
* Theo Keukens
* Johan de Kock
* Erwin Koeman
* Ronald Koeman
* Wim Koevermans
* Jurrie Koolhof
* Jeffrey Kooistra
* Rolf Landerl
* Hennie Meijer
* Johan Neeskens
* Henk Oosterwold
* Erik Regtop
* Michael Reiziger
* Edwin Olde Riekerink
* Arjen Robben
* Jos Roossien
* Harry Schellekens
* Melchior Schoenmakers
* Romano Sion
* Adri van Tiggelen
* Jan Veenhof
* Henk Veldmate
* Mark Verkuyl
* Piet Wildschut
* John de Wolf
;flagicon|ARG Argentina
* Mariano Bombarda
;flagicon|DEN Denmark
* Bjarne Jensen
;flagicon|ENG England
* Rob McDonald
* Paul Mason
* Stephen Goble
;flagicon|MKD Republic of Macedonia
* Milko Djurovski
;flagicon|MAR Morocco
* Ali Boussaboun
;flagicon|NOR Norway
* Erik Nevland
;flagicon|ROM Romania
* Lucian Ilie
;flagicon|SIN Singapore
* Fandi Ahmad
;flagicon|RSA South Africa
* Glen Salmon
;flagicon|SWE Sweden
* Rasmus Lindgren
;flagicon|Uruguay Uruguay
* Bruno Silva
* Luis Suárez

ee also

*Dutch football league teams

External links

* [http://www.fcgroningen.nl/ Official website] nl icon
* [http://www.svfcgroningen.nl/ Official supporters site] nl icon
* [http://www.groningenfanatics.nl/ Official supporters site] nl icon
* [http://www.fcgforum.nl/viewforum.php?f=7/ Unofficial Forum - English Section] en icon
* [http://www.trotsvanhetnoorden.nl Unofficial supporters site] nl icon
* [http://www.degroenehel.com/ Unofficial supporters site] nl icon
* [http://www.boerenmacht.nl/ Unofficial supporters site] nl icon
* [http://www.fcgstats.nl/ Unofficial supporters site] nl icon